Over the past several months I have been doing my best to try and find new music to listen to. With the help of friends in real life and my new found Twitter friends, I have been able to find several new bands that are note worthy. Also there are several bands that I have been listening to for a while now that should be mentioned as well just so that I can spread the “New Music” love around.

Hayes Carll

First of all thanks to Bill (@DangerTom on Twitter) I was introduced to a man by the name of Hayes Carll. The interesting thing about him is, he is a country singer. Now for those of you that don’t know me very well, I would rather wipe my ass with a country cd than listen to it. That is to say, most country music that comes out now is complete and utter CRAP. Yes I am from “The South” but this is not the country music I was raised on, no sir. I was raised on the musical stylings of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty, Wayland Jennings, and of course Hank Williams. I guess they would fall into the category of “Outlaw Country” if you had to label them. Not this shitty “Alt-Country” or what ever you want to call about 80% of the new artists today. 

That being said, Hayes Carll falls more to the old style of country music than the current crop. He has a very mellow sound to most of his songs. I also like the fact that his material is the things that you always hear the jokes on country music are about. Losing the love of his life, losing his job, trying to make money, or hitchin’ across the country, and yes… jail time. One of my favorite songs that he does is called “Live Free or Die”, in which he talks about being in jail and having to press licence plates for New Hampshire corrections. The irony of course being that he is in JAIL pressing plates that have the motto live FREE or die on them. His songs are very well written and performed, and I can’t figure out if it’s a shame he isn’t more widely known or if that is the blessing here.

Metric Fantasies

Next up on the new music scene is a band that I heard about from Patrick Klepek (@exxy on Twitter) called Metric. Now after finding out more about them, I realize that they aren’t really a new band sure, but they are new to me. They are labeled as “Post-Punk” which honestly makes no sense to me. I hear the word punk and think of the sex pistols or black label or minor threat… they don’t sound anything at all like that. I don’t know what I would label them as, but the lead singer and sound of their songs is more akin to The Breeders or Luscious Jackson. Female singer with a great set of pipes backed up by a great band. Oddly enough Bill also randomly recommended them to me after I just heard about them, so I guess great minds do think alike. 

Now on to the music that I have been listening to for a while now and either got back into it, or just got a new album. Starting first with cKy and their new release Carver City. One of the very few perks for living on the East Coast is that sometimes (not often) you get to hear about bands BEFORE the west coast does. I found out about cKy years ago back when they just started to get their stuff out there with Jackass (via Bam Margera). At that point they were still kind of the up and coming underground local kinda band that not a lot of people knew about. I loved the first cd I got of theirs (Vol. 1) and played it to death. They had the sound that fell somewhere between Metal and I guess what you would just call Rock (i dunno). If they wanted to they could get pretty loud and in your face but also had a more mellow melodic sound too. 

cKy - Carver City

Over the years they have released several albums for several different labels. Most recently with their release of Carver City, they “hit the big time” I guess you could say. Carver City was released under RoadRunner Records. Any big metal fan should automatically recognize that name immediately. Probably one of the larger American record labels in the Metal genre. The extra money from the label is very apparent in this album. Given the fact that Chad is kind of a perfectionist and likes to mix all their own stuff, it’s little wonder that the album took a while to come out. That extra time in the oven was also well spent. Each track was worked on and finished separately from the rest, the true definition of slow and steady wins the race. 

The Eagles of Death Metal

Another band that I kind of stumbled upon through another band (Queens of the Stone Age) is The Eagles of Deathmetal. This band headed up by Josh Homme and Jesse Hughes is definitely an acquired taste. Be that the eclectic sound of the music itself, or the falsetto signing style of vocals takes a while to get used to. But how could you not like a band that was formed as a mix of, according to Homme, “The Eagles and Death Metal.” Listening to the latest album “Heart-On” is just fun. You can just tell that the guys playing in the band currently (like QotSA they rotate supporting band mates around a lot) are just really into what they are doing and love to make music together. 

Deadsy

Finally there is a band that I consider to be a bit of a guilty pleasure, Deadsy. They only have two albums out now “The Commencement” and “Phantasmagore”. With a sound that is straight out of the 80′s synth phase mixed with a heaping helping of DOT (Dark Ominous Tones) they create a sound that is pretty much all their own. It really isn’t for everyone, I am sure of that one, but it really does appeal to me. When ever I am just in a mood to relax and just kind of zone out, they are one of the first bands that I will put on. Check em out if you want, but it may not be your particular cup of tea.

So that is what I have been playing through my iPod recently. I don’t expect you all to go out there and purchase/download all these groups, however you could give them a listen, just to see if maybe it might be something you like as well. I am sure there will be more artists that I will list here as time goes on, in fact I already have a few in mind. Check back probably about once a week and I will throw out some more suggestions.